Spend Matters Afternoon Coffee

Continuing cost cuts.G.M. Sees Cost Cuts Continuing for Years in Effort to Sustain Long-Term Growth -- General Motors, already much leaner and more efficient after going through bankruptcy and a painful reorganization, still has to undertake years of sharp cost cuts to ensure it remains profitable, its executives said Tuesday. G.M. executives said that they intended to cut the number of different platforms and engines used in the company's vehicle lineup roughly in half within the next decade.

Worst landlord (and move out protocol) ever!Scorpions on the loose in Shenzhen -- A REAL estate company was suspected of releasing several thousand scorpions into apartments at a residential complex in Shenzhen to force residents to move out in order to make way for a new construction project. A resident surnamed Chen woke up early Monday morning and discovered a scorpion crawling on his body. Chen turned on the light and was astonished to see the bedroom full of scorpions, which have a poisonous sting, local news portal Southcn.com reported yesterday.

A more secure way to pay.Visa Pushing New Card Technology -- Visa Inc. is urging merchants to take the first step in resolving a long-running tussle over how to make U.S. credit and debit cards more secure and compatible with those used around the world. Visa, which runs a network that processes electronic payments, announced a plan aimed at encouraging merchants to install technology at the cash register that accepts a card embedded with a computer chip. The card, which is widely available throughout the rest of the world, is considered to be more secure than traditional cards that have a magnetic stripe on the back.

Debtors prisons still alive in Michigan?Man Jailed For Not Paying Fishing Fine -- Kyle Dewitt spent three days in jail because he was too poor to pay a fishing fine. Last spring, Dewitt was ticketed and fined $215 for fishing smallmouth bass out of season (Dewitt disputes the charge). But Dewitt, 19 years old with a fiancée and a nine-month-old son, lost his job at a grocery store in 2010 and has been out of work ever since. He couldn't afford the $215 fine. Instead he offered to pay $100 up front, and repay the rest in a month. But Judge Raymond Voet of Ionia, Mich., refused. The judge sentenced Dewitt to three days in jail.